Former congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard said on Friday that she intends to step down at the end of June as U.S. director of national intelligence due to her husband’s health.
“I am deeply grateful for the trust President Trump placed in me and for the opportunity to lead the office of the director of national intelligence for the last year and a half,” she stated. “Unfortunately, I must submit my resignation, effective June 30, 2026. My husband, Abraham, has recently been diagnosed with an extremely rare form of bone cancer. He faces major challenges in the coming weeks and months.”
“At this time, I must step away from public service to be by his side and fully support him through this battle,” she added.
U.S. President Donald Trump stated that Gabbard had “done a great job.”
“Her wonderful husband, Abraham, has been recently diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer, and she, rightfully, wants to be with him, bringing him back to good health as they currently fight a tough battle together,” Trump stated. “I have no doubt he will soon be better than ever.”
“Tulsi has done an incredible job, and we will miss her,” he said. “Her highly respected principal deputy director of national intelligence, Aaron Lukas, will serve as acting director of national intelligence.”
Two days after Oct. 7, Gabbard said that “the United States must stand with Israel in the face of this terror attack by the Islamist terrorist group Hamas.”
“This is just the latest example of the greater war being waged by both Sunni and Shia Islamist jihadists throughout the world,” she stated on Oct. 9, 2023. “This should be a wakeup call to leaders everywhere that Islamist jihadists are the greatest short and long-term threat to the safety, security and freedom of the American people, and people throughout the world.”
On the one-year anniversary of Oct. 7, she stated that “Hamas’s horrific attack against Israel one year ago today that took the lives of approximately 1,200 Israelis at a music concert and in their homes, is a stark reminder of the ongoing short and long term threat of Islamist terrorism that continues to spread around the world today.”
“Their goal is to establish a global Islamist caliphate, where all must live under their sharia law. Many leaders in the west have promised to defeat this threat and failed, because they refuse to acknowledge that it must be defeated ideologically and militarily,” she stated. “Kamala Harris refuses to utter the words ‘radical Islamist terrorism,’ because she is afraid of her supporters labeling her an Islamophobe.”
“Her open border policies have invited Islamist terrorists into our country, unchecked,” she added of the then Democratic candidate for president. “She cannot be trusted to defeat this threat, defend our freedom and keep the American people safe.
In 2018, Gabbard said that “Israel needs to stop using live ammunition in its response to unarmed protesters in Gaza,” which she said had “resulted in over 50 dead and thousands seriously wounded.”
And in 2019, she stated that “I’ve always supported Israel’s right to exist—especially after visiting Auschwitz in 2005,” which is “why I’m so concerned with Netanyahu’s aggressive annexation policies which will simply stoke the flames of resentment and conflict. Bad for Israel, U.S., Palestinians and region.”
